Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min and Newcastle United’s Ki Sung-yueng are South Korea international teammates.
Newcastle signed Ki in the summer transfer window on a free following the departure of the 29-year-old central midfielder from Swansea City at the end of last season.
Son, who can operate as a winger or as a forward, plays with the 29-year-old former Celtic for the South Korea national football team, and the 26-year-old – who has been on the books of Tottenham since the summer of 2015 when he joined from Bayer Leverkusen for a transfer fee reported by The Daily Mail to be worth £21.9 million – has praised him.
“At the World Cup he did very well and was our captain,” Son told The London Evening Standard about Ki. “He injured his knee but his move to Newcastle is very good and I’m looking forward to playing against him. It’s the same as last season when we played them away first game.
“He is a very good player. He can change the side, shoot, make a good pass. He doesn’t lose a lot of balls. He is a very good signing for them.
“It is a very good move for him as well. He will be able to play more football than he did at Swansea. I think he is already enjoying Newcastle with his family.”
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Son and Ki will face each other on Saturday afternoon, as Newcastle and Tottenham lock horns with each other at St. James’ Park in the Premier League in a few hours’ time.
Tottenham will head into the match as favourites and have the better team, but playing at home will give the Magpies a lot of confidence.
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